By Zhu Zhe (China Daily)
Updated: 2007-07-18 08:59

An official of China's top watchdog on quality yesterday backed a Chinese rubber company after its United States distributor asked for a recall of 450,000 allegedly flawed tires. He said the tires were up to standard.

"Our sample tests on the tires show they're qualified to be sold in the US," Wang Xin, a senior official of the General Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine, said after an inspection of the Hangzhou Zhongce Rubber Company, China's second-largest tire-maker.

He said all exported Chinese tires strictly follow the safety rules of the import countries, so "there should be no worries about tires made in China".

Foreign Tire Sales Inc (FTS), a small importer based in New Jersey, on June 26 asked the US National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) for help in recalling 450,000 tires made by Hangzhou Zhongce, saying the tires lacked a critical component - a 0.6mm gum strip used to prevent tread separation.

FTS also blamed the tires for a crash in Philadelphia last August. Two people died in the accident and another was badly injured.

However, Hangzhou Zhongce Board chairman, Shen Jinrong, refuted the claim, saying the gum strip is not a must. "It's not included in the US Motor Vehicle Safety Standards nor in our contract with FTS," he said.

Ma Liangqing, director of China's National Center for Tire Quality Inspection and Supervision, agreed that the strip could not be used as a measurement for safety.

"Whether to have it, or how thick the strip is, are technical issues. The designs vary in different companies," he said. "The key is whether the finished products are up to standard."

Hangzhou Zhongce also said its investigation and negotiations with FTS showed that incorrectly sized tires might be the real reason for the fatal accident in Philadelphia.

In a latest FTS report published on the website of the NHTSA, the importer admitted that it could not determine if the absence of the strip caused or contributed to the accident.

FTS noted the van was equipped with three Hangzhou-made tires sized 245/75R16 and one Michelin tire sized 225175R 16.

The Michelin tire, which was about 3cm smaller in diameter than the previous ones, was the correct size for that vehicle.

FTS also said in the report that Chinese tires meet and exceed all applicable Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standards, but could still pose a risk to motorists according to their own tests, which are said to be much more rigorous than those required by the Federal government.

But Shen denied the claim, saying FTS played up the issue for commercial reasons as the two companies were in a dispute over exclusive dealership.

"Since we entered the US market 19 years ago, we've never been questioned by the government on safety issues," he said.

Eskay Tyres Ltd, which had distributed 6 million Hangzhou Zhongce tires across Europe, also confirmed late last month that to date, it had not come across a single incident of belt separation in any tires, including the sizes mentioned by FTS.

So far, no recall has been issued in the US, but Congress will hold a hearing tomorrow on the safety of Chinese manufactured goods, including tires. NHTSA administrator, Nicole Nason, will testify.